The Pirate's War, or as some like to call it, the Death of Piracy, was a war between The Eari and the Free State of Sarhine. The Free State of Sarhine is a now defunct pirate state, formed after piracy started to decline following greater international security for sea trade, especially in the Southern Ocean, where Eari trade was both very rich and very heavily guarded. Piracy was high following the disorganization caused by the Age of Frost, but now that peace had been achieved, leaders were free to focus on their banditry.
BACKGROUND
The pirates of the world began to grow hungry, or very dead due to the high security that guarded merchant ships. Few saw piracy as a valuable trade, and the number of new pirates began to drop. Faced with this growing threat of a possible death of piracy, the leaders of notable pirate bands met together to form an agreement to form a loose confederation and overcome the security present on merchant ships. They pooled their navies together, eventually coming up with about 150 combined ships. With this fleet, they set out and conquered a small island just off the Eari Isles, a small plantation technically under the jurisdiction of Eari, but basically independent on how it governed itself. But they were small nonetheless, and when Sarhine ships came knocking, their lackluster coastal defenses were not match for the amount of weapons the Sarhine ships flaunted. The island was quickly conquered, the inhabitants enslaved, and the land made a base of operations for the pirates. With these new improvements, they set out to scourge the world of sea trade.
The initial raids were a stunning success, especially for the hungry, demoralized pirates of Sarhine. Confidence quickly grew with every raid, every ship captured and brought under their banner. The pirates broadcasted their victories throughout the world, with the goal of making ships shiver whenever they saw their flag flying on their mast. Sarhine achieved their intended task, causing trade to slow tremendously, as merchants and traders where too afraid of encountering Sarhine reavers, and causing economies to suffer. This attention also caused negative effects. Nations that were too busy with domestic problems after the Age of Frost began to notice Sarhine, and take measures against them. Most notable of these newly aware nations was Eari.
Eari had always prided itself on it's security, and naval might. For this small nation to spit in their faces in such a way, targeting both of their prides, that greatly upset them, to put it very mildly. Not only that, but for these scum to take one of their territories, no matter how small and split from the main islands it was, made the Eari very, very mad. Immediately war plans were drawn up. The entirety of the Eari military fleets were summoned, and placed under the command of High Admiral Nyuit, a veteran commander of the Age of Frost, famous for striking numerous crippling blows against the Armies of Dread. About 700 total ships were summoned on a quick basis, a sizeable fleet, more than three times the Sarhine fleet.
Since Sarhine had brazenly leaked the location of their base, Eari dispensed with the beginning formalities and immediately set out for the island base. The Sarhine pirate fleet was fresh, and once news had arrived that the Eari was beginning to mobilize their navy, the pirates began to start defensive preparations for the Eari assault. Multiple scout ships were sent out ahead of time, and once the Sarhine scouts saw the Eari scouts, they skirmished, the Sarhine scouts pulling back to warn the main defenders. The 200-ish ships of the Free State of Sarhine sailed out, pirate flags raised, and began the counter assault, starting the Battle of Sarhine Island, the first and last battle in the Pirate's War.
BATTLE OF SARHINE ISLAND
The Sarhine commanders knew they were heavily outnumbered, outgunned, and out skilled. To counteract these extreme disadvantages, they set out to use the terrain and defender's advantages. The area surrounding Sarhine Island was fraught with rocky spikes growing out of the sea and above water. These rocky spikes provided spaces for Sarhine ships to hold against the Eari ships. Eari naval tactics were much easier. Just use overwhelming force on all directions and crush any resistance. As soon as the battle began, there were immediate problems with the Sarhine strategy. Ships sailed out of formation, toward the Eari. where they were weaker without the support of any formations, and within range of the Eari's fire weapons. Also a problem was the fact they planned to board and take the superior Eari ships to use against the rest. Others planned to ram into the advancing ships with naval rams. This was the strategy of these pirates because most of the pirates were trained in boarding combat. Naturally, these pirates thought they were better at this than whatever plan the commanders had that was bound to fail. The ships that sailed forth were cut down and destroyed. While onboard artillery did little against the ships, they did kill many personnel, leaving a few ships ghost vessels when they finally reached the Eari line. Those that did get forward without being destroyed, exchanging fire with the Eari ships, most likely got burned by close-range fire weapons. The few that managed to get to Eari ships without incident to board them faced a grim reality. The cocky pirates were little match for the trained Eari marines, getting cut down before they so much as injured the Eari seamen.
Those that stayed in formation didn't fare much better. The Eari propelled flaming ships at them, which were easy to dodge but broke up the formations, causing chaos and a mess to organize. Before they could recover and focus their efforts, Eari ships flanked around the Sarhine defensive line, using the rocky outcroppings which Sarhine strategists decided were in their favor to sneak by. By the time they realized that Eari ships were behind them, they were stuck in a wooden hamburger of fire and death. The first and last defensive line of Sarhine Island had fallen within only a a few hours. While there were a bare smattering of ships left behind near the island, they were quickly taken care of. Landing vessels that were stationed in the back of the navy advanced forward, landing hundreds of marines onto the shores, while Eari ships bombarded defenses. The island itself fell within hours, and Sarhine Island was liberated.
Eari casualties are:
- 1,200 seamen casualties
- 800 marine casualties
- 6 ships disabled
- 14 damaged ships (most damages were light)
- 500 native casualties
Sarhine casualties are:
- 4,000 seamen casualties
- 2,500 boarder casualties
- 90 ships disabled
- 60 ships damaged
- 5,000 captured
AFTERMATH
There wasn't much fanfare for the fall of the Free State of Sarhine. Once most leaders heard of Eari's victory, they turned their eyes back inward, to their own problems, a few offering paltry thanks to Eari. The island was later named Sarhine Island, and memorials were erected portraying the battle. The island quickly recovered from their invasion, and Eari started to pay more attention to the happenings of the Southern Ocean. This war, however, was a cause for the death of piracy at large. The number of independent bandits at sea plummeted, and it's widely regarded to be safer sailing around the seas rather than walking along the mainland (disregarding the numerous other causes of deaths at sea and only focusing on banditry). Trade on the seas started to outpace trade on land for the first time, and naval power quickly became a must-have in the modern era.